Kyle McAlister built a sizable lead Saturday evening and held on to it to easily win the Abilene City Council Place 5 seat against Charles Zollars.

Unofficial results with all of the precincts reporting indicated McAlister had 2,183 votes, or 64 percent, to Zollars’ 1,251 votes, or 36 percent.

“I am very excited about this,” McAlister said, moments after the results came in. “It’s very humbling to be able to see the faith and the trust the people have put in me for the next three years.”

McAlister, 45, will be succeeding Councilman Stormy Higgins, who did not seek re-election.

“It has been an exhausting three months,” he said. “It’s really worth it because I want to accept this responsibility that’s been given to me.”

McAlister became an AFLAC insurance salesman in 2001 after 10 or so years in television news — he had been a morning anchorman at KTXS and was a news director at KRBC, both local television stations.

He is a volunteer host of Abilene Christian University’s KACU Night Sounds, a Sunday evening radio show. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in radio, television and broadcast from Abilene Christian University in 1989.

Besides his day job and now a council seat, McAlister also is a deacon and Bible class teacher at Hillcrest Church of Christ and a Redcoat with the Abilene Chamber of Commerce.

He has served on Boys and Girls Club Board and on committees with the United Way of Abilene.

It was evident McAlister got the seat in the bag early on in Saturday’s counting when the unofficial tally at 7:35 p.m. showed him leading Zollars 61 percent to 39 percent. That lead held and even expanded through the night.

He acknowledged that although the campaign is over, the work he had sought the past three months will come full steam ahead, soon after he gets sworn into office.

“I want to continue the very conservative budgeting and conservative spending we have for the city,” McAlister said. “But I really want us to be aggressive in marketing Abilene: I really want people to know about Abilene when they’re looking for a place to live, when they’re looking for a place to relocate and when they’re looking for a place to move a business.”

He gave kudos to his opponent, Zollars, whom he said “ran a really clean race, very professional, very kind and I hope he stays involved in politics.”

Zollars said likewise.

“Kyle ran a good campaign and spent a lot of time on it; we both put a lot of time,” Zollars, 74, said. “I know he’ll do a good job on the City Council so I wish him well.”